Sunday, February 02, 2014

HELLLOOOOO!! I am so so back to blogging!! It's been a year now! :(( Muntik muntik na akong hindi magbalik loob dahil sa 2013 ko na wala naman akong naging trips. Purely busy and suffering from work. (Oo, suffering talaga! Gusto ko na bumalik sa pagiging estudyante. Haha!) So, thats it! Sadyang wala lang akong trips na worth blogging kaya one year akong walang napost but this year, I am hoping, though I cannot promise, that I'll be in to some trips which I can share to all of you guys!! :)))

So much of intro! Let's get to this awesome trip which happens to be my first lakwatcha this year!! Starting the year right huh? :)) I am so excited to blog again but I don't think I can give you the "to knows" of the places I've been to. I didn't really prepared much on the itinerary so what I can provide are purely chika. Hahaha.

Majo & I will be traveling from Manila to Cebu then to Bohol to have a countryside tour then we'll be back to Cebu for the SINULOGGGG!! Yayyy! Wait for my post!! Isa isa lang. Eto munang Bohol!! It is both our first time in Bohol so I decided to hire a tour guide for us since I've heard that it is really hard to tour around Bohol without a car.

How I miss seeing this beautiful sight. That's sunrise by the way. (Yes, our flight is that early!)

Our flight may have been early but we weren't able to catch the first trips of any fast craft going to Bohol. We waited for damn 2 hours!! Buti na lang maganda ang terminal.

BLOOD COMPACT SITE

Tagbilaran East Rd.

Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and Datu Sikatuna seal their friendship in Bohol on March 1565. It was considered as the first treaty of friendship between the Spaniards and the Filipinos.

Can you determine who is the Filipino and who is the Spaniard?

Look on how they carry their mugs!!

BACLAYON CHURCH

The oldest Roman Catholic church in Bohol and the third oldest in the country. Sadly, what was left after the earthquake is this. Sayang! Di na namin naabutan yung buo pa siya.

Those are only for support but they haven't started the reconstruction yet.

LOBOC CHURCH

Also one of the oldest churches in Bohol and in the country that was destroyed by the earthquake. Yes, there a lot of other Bohol churches which are not destroyed by the earthquake.

Same as the Baclayon Church, they haven't started the reconstruction yet.

It's bell tower divided into half.

LOBOC RIVER CRUISE

Since we arrived in Bohol just in time for lunch, we only visited a few places and immediately went to Loboc for lunch.

Boats in different sizes ready to dined in!!

Our guide recommended Loboc River Watch which was also recommended by Trip Advisor. We paid 450 for the buffet. The food is okay. Nothing very remarkable.

Our lunchmates went off dancing with the locals

The entire one hour cruise was really refreshing because of the view and the fresh air.

Sarap humiga at matulog! Haha!

TARSIER CONSERVATION AREA

Loay Interior Rd, Loboc

Here, you get to meet the smallest primates. There are only around 6 Tarsiers for viewing. Nakakatakot yung itsura nila pero nakakaawa din kasi gising sila when they should be asleep.

Stretching about 2 kilometers, you will immediately notice the densely planted Mahogany Trees located in the border of Loboc and Bilar towns.

CHOCOLATE HILLS

Carmen, Bohol

Bohol has been known as the home of the thousands Chocolate Hills. During the dry season, the grass-covered hills dries up and the color turns into chocolate brown. There are around 1200+ hills which are spread in numerous towns.

There are pictures spreading in the social networking sites were the Chocolate hills are somehow damaged after the province was hit by the earthquake last October. From the viewing deck which was also destroyed by the earthquake, we saw numerous hills from a far which looked damaged because the supposedly green grass top was replaced by a dry mud looking tops.

Scary at first thinking those bamboos can be broken anytime you step on them. Oo, ang bigat ko pa!! Haha.

If you decided to cross the bridge, on the other side, you can buy pasalubongs!!

Since we started the tour nearly lunchtime, we only need to prioritize the tourist spots we will be going to since most of them closes at around 5 or 6pm. We missed a few but still felt that the tour is worth all the pagod! Haha. We then asked our guide to help us find a place to stay in Panglao Island, particularly in Alona Beach. (May kamahalan sa Dumaluan though mas maganda daw talaga dun!) He brought us to Cherry's Home One.

Our clean room worth Php1000. Pwede naaa.

It's a nice place to stay. They also have a guard at night.

Good Morning Panglao!! The weather is still gloomy. Mr. Sun didn't show up!

Majo & I went on a walktrip the night we arrived in Panglao. Majo got interested on an island hopping offered by a local. We agreed to go for it for Php500 each. Kuya told us that we will be seven in the boat. others are foreigners.

A French who travels alone and a Chinese couple on vacation

Another Chinese couple. They are so cute!! They wore board shorts with the same design. Parang pinasadya pa! Haha.

First stop: Dolphin Watching

This is the most decent photo I have!

Second stop: Balicasag Island

The foreigners went for snorkeling but Majo & I refused to and just walked around the island.

Back in Panglao!! We were not able to enjoy this beautiful beach because we need to get back to Cebu after lunch.

Contact Kuya Tatsky for Bohol Countryside tours and other arrangements. He just accompanied us from the Inn in Panglao to Tagbilaran port for some hundreds of pesos. I also need to give credit to one of his drivers who became our guide on our first day, Kuya Rikrik, who did a great job in touring us around. 09223671051

I missed this! The travel and everything. It has always been good to have new experiences, go to places you've never been and meet new people from different raises.

Kuya Tatsky told us that from 900 tourists a day, it is now down to 200 tourists a day visiting the famous Chocolate Hills. It went down because of the earthquake. As we have seen, it seemed that Bohol is slowly moving on from the tragedy and those places we've been to were not very much damaged except from the churches. Tourists should still come and see the beauty of Bohol!